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Monastic Deck
Card Shuffle "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" A cry ressonated within the island, which the moonlight shone upon. Was this happening due to his anger? Yes, yes, it was. A large ship stood by the docks of the island, calm waves making it move in the slightest, the author of the aforementioned cry stood on the docks. He seemed to be alone in there. He bawled his fists, "UNACCEPTABLE!! WILLIAM PARKER!" Parker yelled... at himself? "HOW COULD YOU LEAVE YOURSELF BE FOOLED?!" He had a piece of paper in his hands and suddenly ran out of the docks and into the island, with some sand still filling the space after the woods ended. Looking at the paper, Parker stopped by the sand, it read: "YO GUYS, MONK MEETING, GO GO, IT'S FOR YESTERDAY!!" Signed with Pierrot's name. "GHHHH!" Parker burst blue energy from his hands and swifly dug an insane amount of sand from the spot before him, the sand that flew away was glowing, "THIS IS P-P-P-PUNISHMENT!!!" He jumped into the large hole with a backflip, head turned to the ocean. The sand suddenly came back into place, influenced by his powers, caging him into the ground. A blonde male, carrying the station of King of Diamonds within the Monk Pirates, had been heading in the direction of the docks, carefully making his way across the landscape as though every step was one made on treacherous terrain. But then a there was a rather loud yell, one he recognized, so he decided to go see what had happened with his superior this time. He still walked even more slowly to account for his change in direction, as since he didn't know exactly where Parker had wound up. He found his way quickly enough, alternating between making strange clicking sound with his tongue and tapping the ground with the ornate blade clutched in his hand. Once he found Parker, Mitsu turned his unseeing eyes and a bright smile to the bespectacled male "Hello Parker-dono. It's a pleasure to...well I would say see you but..." He motioned to his eyes and chuckled softly. "So...what exactly are you punishing yourself for today, hm?" Parker was one of the more interesting characters in the crew, even by the blond's standards, so whatever his reason for burying himself up to his neck in the sand was bound to be humorous. But you tend to find a lot of things interesting when you can't use your eyes, after all. His lack of sight made Mitsu a great listener, in more ways than one. Parker's expression was neutral, was, "FOR THE FACT THAT I MISHEARD INFORMATION!!" The earth around them shook viciously. "Good morning to you too, Mitsuhide-dono!" He waved, breaking apart the earth, but quickly shoved his hand inside back. A deep blue streak shot through the water, darting around the various ships in port. The shape stopped abruptly, sending out a wave that jostled the fish before him, sending them tumbling away in the ensuing current. He shrugged, giving them a small wave. He looked down at his deep blue skin, his left hand glowing faintly. It was still early in the day having returned from his morning swim, Levi overheard a familiar voice having another of his fits. He shot from the water, landing gracefully on the nearby dock as he began to walk in the direction of the voice. As he reached the sand he noticed Parker, buried up to his head in the sand, probably another punishment for himself. Beside him stood Mitsu, mostly likely there for the same reasons. "Geez Parker I've got to say, all that yelling totally harshing my mellow. I could heard you underwater brosef." "I would-" Parker coughed from the dust, "-SCOLD you and myself, if you weren't capable of hearing me!!" After all, what good they were if their abilities weren't that high. Another woman, with pink hair, wearing a somewhat dirty outfit, seemingly after a day of intensive farming, appeared after her fellow Monk Pirates. "Rabbit Parker, would you stop it with the racket?! My plants are finding it hard to grow with all your shouting causing shockwaves in the soil!" Proceeding to ignore Parker, she went to the nearby patch of vegetable plants on the same beach, and began to pet each and every single one. "Don't worry little ones. Don't be scared. This Rabbit won't eat you, isn't that right, Rabbit Parker?" Those last words were spoken with a dose of venom spat directly towards the Ace of Diamonds. But who was this woman? Why, she was Refugia, the Number 10 of Diamonds, and one of the Monk Pirates' elites. While her prowess as a combatant could not match the figures before her, her role as the producer and overseer of the Monks' various pastures granted her a critical degree of importance within the Monk Pirates' territories, for it was her food that enabled each territory successful, independent socio-political climates. Gilgamesh, an older man who looked like a hobo, simply ignored the situation with Parker. He was used to the Ace's shenanigans as the 9 of Diamonds, and veteran member of the crew. Instead, he kept his eye out on the sea, helping ally ships come into harbour, while keeping anyone else away, with his Devil Fruit. The latest ship to be coming in appeared to be Mordred's Revolt, by the look of it. "Hmm, Spades seem to be here." As the red sailed ship was pulling into the port, Wybert did a running jump off the ship, landing on his ass next to his fellow Ace. "Hm? Yo, Parker. What are you doing in there? Did Refugia put you there thinking you were one of her plants?" The Ace of Spades stood up, brushing the sand off of his. "HA! One of her plants. What a classic!" "YOU- ALL OF YOU!!" Parker bellowed, eyes nearly bursting from their sockets and darting between all of their figures. He took to responding to Refugia first, "Why would these plants be scared?! Hmph!" Energy sapped from his body, his lips curving down as he bit them. Such a thing procceeded to make the best, at least Parker thought so, parts of the ground to focus on the roots of all those plants. Influenced by waves and waves of energy, the ground moved all at once, shifting inside of itself and provoking several, but small, quakes throughout the place. Some roots ended up being uprooted off the ground, while some plants were completely buried, however, many insects could be found sprouting from everywhere. "THERE!" Parker waved and ripped the earth once again, "Is that enough to make amends and have you STOP calling me bunny?!" He dug his arm inside, not before fixing his glasses, saliva flew widly from his mouth. His head whipped to Wybert, "ARE YOU INSULTING FUGIA'S PERCEPTIVE SKILLS?!" "...Rabbit...RABBIT PARKER! YOU RUINED IT AGAIN!? You really are never going to be more than a rabbit, ever!" Refugia yelled at her superior, before opening her eyes and realizing what had happened. In a hurry, she transformed herself into soil and began to grab the plants that had been flown out. A morbid expression was apparent on her face, and tears streamed down her eyes. "Y-you will all be missed..." Refugia cried, uncaring of the people around her. It was always this way with her and her plants. When it came to them, nothing else really mattered. "Furarara! What's goin'...!? Is that a sword!?" Another, somewhat youthful man appeared from Mordred's Revolt. He had bright orange hair, and was carrying an umbrella, but soon dropped it in favor of running towards the figure of Parker, who he had seemingly mistaken for a...sword? "Hmm, this elegant posture, this ferocious power, being stuck on the ground like this...YEP! This has to be a sword! I'mma pull it out!" In one fluid motion, the orange-haired man pulled out this so-called sword, and swung it towards the sea with such strength, that the sea itself parted for a brief window, and in fact delayed itself joining together. That was the speed and skill behind the King of Spades, Spriggan Dante. "...Ah." However, that same powerful swordsman had only just realized that a pair of glasses were thrown off the "sword" he was swinging, and he had finally connected the dots. This sword was William Parker...Dante was about to be killed. "I'm sorrry!!!!" Dante put Parker down gently, and as soon as he did, leaped into the air to catch Parker's glasses, and presented them to him with a bow. Although he knew of Parker's ferocious temper, and realized an action like this wouldn't be nearly enough. Making his eyes bulge out of his skull, Parker glared at the crying Refugia, his power flared out once again and cracked the earth much like before, shambling everything around for a moment. Even then, those hadn't been his intentions, Parker was merely trying to shoot his moving energy at his friend, so that her tears would climb over her face and dig through her eyes. Ah, yes, perfect, Parker gave a crooked smile at being capable of helping her. Before his powers could further destroy everything, Parker's eyes darted to a new visitor, tensing up as they pierced his very being, and he was suddenly snatched off the ground. Nevertheless, he moved no inch, standing straight like the sword he was mistaken for. "Hoh!" Parker mused at the show of strength given by Dante, eyes so focused that he didn't even notice his glasses falling off. Making it to the ground, courtesy of Dante of course, Parker opened his arms wide and suddenly joined his palms together, clapping furiously, "Amazing!!" He bellowed at Dante, "AMAZING!" The man had even given his glasses back in record time, "You have sure improved over time, Dante-dono! This calls for no punishment!!!" "Would you fools stop goofing around?" A small woman in an elegant kimono asked in an icy tone as she made her way off the ship in her own time. This was the Queen of Spades, Columbina. "Shouldn't you be preparing for the meeting, instead of playing these games?" She then glared at both Parker and Dante. Behind her came the rest of the Spades aboard Mordred's Revolt. "Furarara!" Dante was happy that everything with Parker turned out well. It was a relief to see that man not punish everything in sight. "Hey Columbina~ Why you gotta be like that?! We're a deck of cards ain't we? Let's play around! Pierrot does it all the time~" Dante snickered, as he awaited the next suit to arrive on the island. He didn't have to wait long, as both Corporate Law and Chikara began pulling into the port. The Hearts' ship, Corporate Law was the first of the two to arrive, with Karoshi suddenly appearing on the island, with the speed of his Soru. “He he, first one here for the meeting,” he chuckled to himself, turning around and almost bumping right into Parker. “Whoa,” he shouted as he started to fall backwards! Before he could properly fall on his ass though, his upper body separated from his knees and caught itself, floating in place while his legs regained their footing a few steps back. His upper body then rotated back into an upward position, sliding back to reconnect to his legs after. “Parker? Why are you already here? Aren't you too early?” Looking over, he also saw the Ace of Spades. "Wait! Wybert's also here?" "EVERYOOOOONE-" Parker blurted out, saliva flying towards Karoshi, "-is already here, you mongrel!" Looking at a non-existent clock, Parker dug himself out of the soil, stepping upward with no trouble, "It's because I arrived QUITE EARLYYY." A shiver traveled through his entire body, making him press his lips against his teeth and forward, "I-Is everyone actually here?!" He whipped his head, glancing around rapidly between each of the present members. Eyes wide, Parker sucked almost all of the entire atmosphere's air into his nostrils, his right leg rose sideways. The same leg went back and pressed harshly against his other leg, putting both his feet together, "DECK CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL," Parker bellowed, mouth shaped into an o'' as a gust of wind went in all directions. "TEEEN-HUT, Monk Pirates- PRESENTATION!" He put his right hand diagonally in front of his forehead, while his teeth flashed in blue energy, should anyone not respond. Just as Parker finished his salute, a clump of muscles crashed into him from seemingly out of nowhere. As this bundle of brawn collided with the strait-laced Diamond, all of his forward momentum seemed to disappear, as it simply fell onto the ground at Parker’s feet, without budging Parker an inch. “Haha, HA! GOOD AIM, LALA! YOU HIT HIM DEAD ON,” the ball of muscles yelled out from the ground. Standing up, no one around was surprised to see that it was the remaining Ace, Jonathan, that had appeared so outrageously. The other Aces all did love to mess with Parker. Wrapping one of his large arms around the shoulder of the strictest Ace, Jonathan laughed while talking to him, “Hey Parker, boy! We could all hear you over from Chikara. No need to be such a stickler, is there? We’re all here now, so put away that time-bomb of yours, won’t you?” "GAAAAAAAAAAH!" Parker's mouth went wide for a second, though, just how it was mentioned, he didn't budge in pain from his spot. "Though, SENPAI YOU HAVE BEEN LATE!! I REQUIRE THAT YOU BE OUT OF THE NEXT MISSION AND TRAIN RECRUITS," Each bellow ressonated through the area once again, though, it was then that Parker stopped and blinked rapidly. Some nameless Monk soldier facepalmed, "Oh no," He earned a glare from another soldier beside him. "Spoon, you'll get used to it." They both looked on as the earth trembled and erupted. Parker stomped over the ground with his left foot, "Here- ALL HERE?!" All shadows fell upon his face, obscuring his expression almost completely while everyone would possibly turn to look at him. Head leaning down briefly, Parker suddenly rose it and a flash of blue engulfed the entire environment, divided into many rays. Knees bent and legs spread, Parker swiftly opened his arms, revealing his face, "A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-'''AMAZING'!" Dust, air, water, living beings. They all shared one trait at that very moment, all of them shuddered and stopped at the sight of... a smile. Parker's smile. The corner of his lips perched upward, reaching the sides of his hair, while the upper and lower row of his teeth flashed into the air, standing apart from each other. "I-It means- that we c-can- can finally have a proper r-reunion- I EVEN SHIVER AT THE THOUGHT," Parker spun around. As the other gathered Aces looked upon Parker's smile, they all shuddered. "Wow, a proper smile, I would have never expected that to come from you Parker". A tall and slender but muscular man now arrived. He was dressed in a black suit with long blond hair, moving and flowing with the wind. "I wouldn't exactly call any reunion we have proper per se, but yes I assume so". At this point, it was very apparent that the man now arriving was the King of Hearts, Sebastian. "Karoshi, I wish you would've waited for the boat to dock before abandoning ship, we could've made our entrance together". Sebastian looked slightly frustrated, but he quickly shrugged it off. "Well so be it, we're both here now". Sebastian pulled up a chair, he sat down crossing his legs his head and shoulder being far above where they should be on the seat. "Where is Daikaku? I don't see him, is he yet to arrive? Or will he not be joining us today?" Sebastian took a sip from a teacup, the cup seemed to have come from nowhere and was still piping hot. "SHARARA! DON'T GO CREAMIN' YOUR PANTS, THE MAIN EVENT AIN'T EVEN HERE!!!" Tyberius made his entrance as obnoxiously as everyone else would have come to expect from the man, walking in with a swagger few could match. "....." Lala coldly stared ahead. "Woah woah woah! Jon, please get your men under some control. Even if Parker's smile was really creepy, they shouldn't be so casual with him like that. Especially that Lala. Her potty mouth is astonishing," Karoshi interjected. "Hahaha, we can't all be so bothered with formalities," Jonathan gave back. "That said, you may be right. Lala probably crossed a line. Try to bite your tongue a little in the future, okay?" "..." "HAHAHA! What a wonderful way to put it! Well, you heard heard her, Karoshi. There's no taming this wild vixen." ---- Meanwhile, on a rather different island, the Captain of this gathering Yonko crew was wondering where the rest of his crew was. "Are you sure this was the island we were supposed to be meeting at?" Harlequin asked. "Of course. We had agreed to meet on Oumagatoki Islan... wait. Was it Auyakusoku Island?" "Well, if I had to say, Auyakusoku sounds like a more apt choice for our purposes this time around," Harlequin responded with a straight face. "Should we just check it out to see if they happen to be there?" Daikaku turned to look at his most trusted crew mate with a sheepish look on his face. "Ah, yes. We should probably see if they went to the wrong island..." Card Cut Back on the aforementioned island, before anyone could proceed, a not-so-loud sound filled the atmosphere. Puru puru puru puru puru puru, Parker's eyes widened and he glanced at the pocket of his coat. Puru puru puru-'' He swiftly took his personal Den Den Mushi out, ''Kacha, it sported black glasses and a coat just like his. "Hm?" Parker walked away from the main group briefly, instantly recognizing whom it was. "Hm, mhm," He mumbled in response, the other person talking quickly and with a smug through the Den Den Mushi. "HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?!" Suddenly, blue energy flared from Parker's being and his eyes shone like highlights. Without waiting on anyone's reaction and bending his knees, Parker yelled, "PIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTT." Rings of air exploded in the distance, while the earth that stood beneath Parker screamed in a rupture, and the water in his direction parted much like it was cut apart by a swordsman. Many waves broke apart, rising high, whilst some ships rocked in the sea. Tremors spread throughout the island, vegetation tilting along the wind in the opposite direction that Parker went, the latter vanished into the horizon as a blue star. Sitting on the Yonko's infamous main ship, the Genkai, Pierrot the Clown Prince was chuckling as he looked at the Den Den Mushi he had just been talking on. It brought him much pleasure to piss Parker off like that, so of course he had to be the one to give him the news. He had practically begged Harlequin to be allowed to make the call. Though, Pierrot's version of begging was to basically be as annoying as possible until they gave in to his request. Now he was pleased as punch. "It seems like everyone is back on the ship. We can head out now, Captain," Harlequin informed Daikaku before making his way onto the ship himself. "Hmm," Daikaku affirmed, still embarrassed about his mistake. Since they were in a hurry, they didn't have the time to be sailing normally, so with the sails furled and everyone else on board, Daikaku prepared to hasten their journey. Pushing his sleeves up, he grabbed the stern of the ship and lifted it up to his shoulder. Then with a mighty thrust, he threw their ship like a shot put towards their destination, having aimed with an eternal pose. This sent Genkai flying out like a rocket. Taking a second to admire his put, Daikaku then jumped after his ship, shattering the ground beneath him as he did. Using a couple Geppo, he was easily able to catch up. As the ship started leveling out, Harlequin eyed Pierrot. "You don't mind, do you? Giving us some wings?" "Oh heavens, no," Pierrot exclaimed sardonically. "Why didn't you ask sooner?" Removing his top hat, Pierrot revealed a rather large, curled ahoge, which suddenly caught alight on the tip as it was exposed. Extending both arms out to either side, large amounts of wax suddenly started flooding out of his hands, attaching to the sides of the ship and forming giant, white wings. As he put his top hat back upon his head, the flame on his candle's wick went out, and the wings solidified to be as hard as steel. These attachments turned Genkai into a sort of glider, carrying them through the air well above the sea, to the point that it would look like nothing more than a speck from below. At one point, as they were gliding, Pierrot and Harlequin felt... something with their Haki, but they couldn't tell who or what it was. But even from this distance, they could feel that there was anger within it. He wasn't sure why, but this caused Pierrot to smile with amusement. Daikaku, however, felt it clearly. That was the aura of possibly his most earnest crew mates, Parker. And while he too felt the anger, beneath that was an unshakable loyalty, which made him smile himself. He was a good kid. Not wanting Parker to completely miss them, Daikaku sent some of his will down to the loyal Ace below. Hmph, he should be able to sense that, he thought with a grin. Widen, Parker's eyes almost jumped out of his skull as, upon his mind receiving a specific signal, his body stopped completely, with his knees bending and his arms rising backward. Containing his own kinetic energy, even the one not generated by his fruit, was no difficult task for someone like him. Yet, just when he stopped above an area on the ocean, the wind couldn't, everything else was forcefully pushed, waves went in all directions. Like a black dot or void in space, a hole was drilled on the water surface beneath where Parker stopped, thrice larger than his figure. Yes, black, rather than the expanding blue of the water, the hole was almost too dark. But, that happened because the shockwave caused by Parker hadn't simply created waves, rather, his body stopping how it did provoked a pillar-like shockwave. This shockwave went on to pierce through a large coral and make it crumble, push large fish aside, and reach the very bottom of that ocean, hitting the dark sands and vegetation there. For the second that this cylinder lasted within the waters, most of the nearby aquatic life had their senses set upon its existence. Swoosh, not being capable of resisting it any other second, the water splashed into itself, drawn towards the pillar of nothing in order to fill what had been there. Everything spun, the nearby water currents had their course changed in tandem to where this water went, quickly forming an underwater tornado or what one could call a whirlpool. One that was as tall as the ocean. Rumble and waves reverberated through the waters, sending nearby rocks and animals away. Parker himself, having not paid attention to what transpired below him in that small frame of a second, simply used his powers to, yet again, push himself from where he stood. In another surge of blue, his figure headed back to where he first came, opening the seas that he had parted before another time. Going at such speed and ferocity, it was clear that while Parker wouldn't take a lot of time to arrive, he would be a few seconds later than his superiors. The time it took Parker to stop in his tracks, turn around, and start running back the way he came was enough for the makeshift glider to completely leave the Ace behind in the dust. It continued to soar at incredible speeds, seemingly not losing any momentum. And as they approached Auyakusoku Island, Pierrot tilted the wings down, allowing it to drop back down towards the sea, which it bounced off of several times when it dropped far enough. Just before crashing into the island, Pierrot suddenly morphed the shape of the wings from long and thin gliding wings to stubbier elliptical wings. He also rapidly tilted them at a high angle, stalling the ship, forcing it to lose its momentum. Once Genkai safely stopped with all the other docked ships, the wings that Pierrot had granted it disappeared. The gathered Monks, who were so late to the meeting, all made their way onto the island with the rest of the crew that had already arrived. Now the only one missing was Parker. "Ah!!! Ya' guys left Parker-ken behind again!? That's very mean, Daikaku-tsurugi, Pierrot-ken!" Dante exclaimed as he saw Genkai land safely. His eyes rippled in concern for Parker, although, it wasn't so much concern, so much as his personal 'grief' that a sword of Parker's caliber was left behind. Though, nobody had any doubt in their minds that Parker would be right behind them in an instant's time. "Hey Daikaku-tsurugi! Did ya' find any sword poneglyphs yet!? Last time ya' said that th' one ya' found had been destroyed because of Harlequin-ken and Pierrot-ken fighting!! Is it a'ight this time?! Please tell me it is! I need ta' find new swords, furarara!" Dante laughed, in both visible concern and grief. It was surprising, but even as a man of Dante's caliber, all he cared about in this world, were finding the greatest swords in the world. Daikaku felt bad for Dante, as he knew that the poneglyphs were not a reasonable path to finding the swords that Dante sought, yet his desire for these National Treasures was so great that he looked in the most unconventional places. Who knew, though? Mayhaps one of these poneglyphs would contain what he desired. Daikaku doubted it, but he was more than willing to let Dante believe these "sword" poneglyphs were a thing. "Unfortunately we haven't found any new poneglyphs in quite some time… but speaking about things that aren't around," Daikaku quickly segued away from the discussion of poneglyphs with Dante, "I don't happen to see Parker anywhere. He's usually the first one to these sorts of things." "I wonder if he's off gallivanting about again," Pierrot remarked. "That lad is a little too carefree, don't you think?" A second later, the very topic of their conversation crashed back into the island, generating a towering explosion of pure dust. It reached even above the island's tallest structure, trails of blue energy came from the sea, and then Parker's figure emerged from the soil. "IT'S FINE NOW BECAUSE I'M HERE!" His bellows echoed everywhere around him, figure covered in dirt. Harlequin looked at the dirt covered Ace. "Hmm, I didn't expect you to be the last one here, Parker-san. Did you go to the wrong island by mistake?" Harlequin could see the look of shock appear on Parker's face at that remark, and could tell that he wanted to interject, but was cut off by Daikaku before he could. "Well, it doesn't matter if one of us, and we don't need to point fingers here, mistook where we were meeting today," Daikaku said while looking away somewhat to hide his embarrassment. "What matters is that we're all here now. It's been a long time coming, but let's get this under way." After his initial shock, "Hmph!" Parker fixed his glasses once, letting out a small shockwave into his vicinity. "You were the ones LATE, I was merely attempting to bring you HERE!" He crossed his arms, lips curved down while he eyed Harlequin. Before further could be argued, it was Daikaku's voice that ressonated between them, "I cannot agree MORE, Captain-sama!" Taking a few steps away, Parker marched until he was faced with the rest of the Monk Pirates. He rose one of his legs sideways and beat it against his standing one, clapping his arms by the sides of his body. "M-M-M-MONK PIRRRRRRRRRRRATES!" One of his arms shot up and gestured for the way ahead, towards the reunion place. "STRAIGHTEN!!!" Card Straightening Seemingly all of the Monks Pirates walked in the directed path, forming some sort of straight line, leaded by none other than the Captain himself. With but a few minutes of walking, they could all see their final destination. "Aww...Daikaku-tsurugi couldn't find any sword poneglyphs, that's sad..." Dante said, as he walked in the straight school line towards the meeting place behind his seniors. He scratched his head, realizing that he didn't even know why they were meeting today. "Hey, does anyone know why we're here today? It's rare that Daikaku-tsurugi calls for all of us at the same time. Isn't that dangerous?" Samuel fell into line like the rest of the Monks. After all, there wasn't much of a choice in the situation. As Dante spoke, Samuel expressed some form of shock on his face. Seemingly remembering something, the man reached behind his back and revealed a strange object. As he moved it into clear view, it appeared to be a sword with inscriptions similar to that used on poneglyphs. However, every other inscription seemed to be off in some way. "It probably is dangerous seeing as how many of us were called. So why don't you take this, it may come in use later down the line." Samuel stated, offering up the object to Dante. A stern expression sat on his face as he did, bringing a tone of seriousness to his actions. Sebastian walked behing his fellow monks and superiors as he heard voices from behind him, those of Dante and Samuel. "It's unprecedented for him to call the entire crew out, the threat must be incredibly large." Sebastian would say before taking a sip of wine from a glass the seemed to have appeared from nowhere. "Either that or he just wanted us all here for moral support, now wouldn't that be funny." Sebastian would say before breaking out into a slight laugh, breaking the serious tone just a bit. "Ah? What's that, Sam-ken!? It almost looks like a Sword Poneglyph!" Dante snatched it off the Jack of Hearts' hand and looked at it with extreme fondness and surprise. "Hey hey, what is this Sam-ken?!" Samuel gave a smile as Dante took the weapon from him. “A poneglyph sword. Found it inside of a skeleton. You should give it a swing.” Samuel spoke, urging Dante to use it. As the swordsman would do so, the weapon would start dissolving into thin air, almost as if it was never there. "Hmm, no, I can't do that! I have to ask Daikaku-tsurugi what this all means! So for right now, I'm going to keep this inside myself. Can I do that, Sam-ken? I hope you don't mind! This is so cool! I'm over the moooon! I couldn't care about this meeting anymore!! Let's hope this finishes quickly so I can ask Daikaku-tsurugi some stuff!" Why was she here again? Esperanza remembered expecting a powerful, serious enterprise. A war machine really. While the power was there, the bombastic, quirky natures of her crewmates still took getting used to. They rarely gathered en masse like this after all. Nonetheless, here she was, following the neatly, orderly line Parker had painstakingly constructed. Ranza meant to ask Parker how he kept it all together; then she remembered him digging his head in the sand. "Never mind." Her thoughts turned to the impending meeting. Having so many of the upper echelon gathered something big was going down..the fun part was what. With that, she began humming a quiet little tune in time with her footsteps. “Oh please, keep the sword as long as you want Dante. It’s all yours.” He spoke with a tone of sincerity. Sincere trickery that was. He could only imagine the look on Dante’s face when he realized the sword was nowhere to be found later. "HMMM!!" Like a blanket of pure pressure, Parker's glare came from the front row of the line, "Have I been hearing CONVERSATIONS?!" Was his head larger and his mouth spitting flames? "KEEP WALKING!!" Parker continued to shout, sending tremors through their surroundings. Esperanza winced as the glare passed over the line, Parker's booming voice lending the chilling glare further credibility. Though she did have to admit Parker undercut himself with the comical head growth. "Not so much conversations, but team building exercises?" Esper started, unable to help herself, "When's the last time we've been assembled like this? Most of us have probably forgotten each other's names. It wouldn't hurt to chat it up a bit, see where everyone's head is at." As the Monks continued their trek towards their destination lead by their esteemed Captain they would find themselves tailed by an extremely tall woman, occupying a spot that had up until that point seemed empty. One might feel fuzzy and confused even at her sudden appearance, for there were hardly any places she might have hidden in range, and so one might eventually be forced to conclude that she must’ve been there all along. Hildegarde Ernestine was an enigmatic woman in many ways, secretive and isolationist in most respects. Much by choice and equally by sheer necessity given the woman she was one day expected to become, for there was a time that she had been groomed to become the greatest assassin in the world by the World Government and trained to perfect that despicable craft. Although she had long since renounced her old life her skills had only improved, and so her movements didn’t even leave footprints, nor stir the dust or even make the slightest sound. Her presence was so subdued that despite her large size one might easily miss her regardless, and even when someone looked straight at her their mind would often refuse to acknowledge what it saw, like attempting to pin down a spectre. Given this information, it might be easy to guess why her bounty had remained so low despite her involvement with a Yonko Crew. She had served Daikaku for years already, but she had only briefly spoken with a small number of her fellow Monks, most of whom completely forgot she existed some time afterwards. But she had watched over them, given them choice bits of vital intelligence, saved them from threats that some of them never realised existed and done what she could to be a worthy addition to the crew. Mostly she concealed herself by habit, and this marked one of the few times in several years where she allowed herself to be seen openly. ---- "So nice for you all to show up in the same place for once," Edgar announced to three younger men and women following him. "You three never visit me anymore. Marshall, you're always so busy trying to beat that one tiger, Maria... I'm not actually sure what you've been up to, and Shana, do you ever leave that cult? I don't see Elsie anywhere." Marshall just shrugged his shoulders, "Unfortunately dad, I just have obligations off Shikhi. Can't always be sitting around there." Maria added, "When's the last time you've even sent me a letter..." "But you never even tell me where you are." "You have literally never asked, not even once." "But Maria..." Poe turned to his youngest daughter as Maria gave him the cold shoulder. "So Shana, how's the cult?" "Shiona's Light and the rest of her crew are just fine, and still not a cult." "And how's Elsie doing?" Edgar teased, knowing that Shana had originally asked to be transferred to the Shiona's light after she had developed a crush on her superior. Shana blushed slightly as she snapped back, "Commander Burroughs is doing just fine, I just don't see her around here right this second." "Aww... Someone has a..." Edgar began to respond when a ten-ton foot came down upon his toes. The old man just smiled at his youngest daughter even as he yelled internally from the pain. Edgar turned around and continued walking back at his normal pace, his children having been successfully bugged for now. Category:Role-Plays Category:SuBash Category:Ash9876 Category:DamonDraco Category:Shoshiki Category:Dragon Lord Erin Category:EmperorSigma Category:Njalm2 Category:GeminiVIII